Milt Younger's Bakersfield

MILT YOUNGER'S BAKERSFIELD

1931 - 1957

An Interview with Milton Younger

By Gilbert Gia

Copyright © Gilbert Gia, 2010, Bakersfield, California

www.gilbertgia.com p 1 of 45

Historic Bakersfield & Kern County, California

www.gilbertgia.com

Gilbert Gia: About 2005, Don Clark interviewed you and

Betty for a series called Great Biographies of Bakersfield.1

The video was informative, but it left me wanting to know

more about your growing-up in Bakersfield, and I think

your story would be inspirational for young people. Thank

you for allowing me to interview you and learn more about

that period in your life.

Milt Younger

ounger: Well, there's not a lot to tell, but you're

welcome. What would you like to know?2YG: The video didn't say much about your parents.

1 Milton M. Younger and Betty Lee Hoenshell were married in 1959.2 This conversation took place over lunch at the Bell Tower Club.


Y: They both came from Europe. My dad, Louis J. Younger,

was born in 1893 in Hungary, was orphaned there when

he was 14, and later went to New York. He moved to

South Carolina and lived with a relative at Sumter. He told

me he drove a wagon and sold candy and cigarettes. My

father then moved back to New York and worked in a

clothing store. His next move was to Los Angeles where he

did the same kind of work. In 1920 he came to Bakersfield

to work for Abe and Anne Riegler.3

Celia, my mother, was born in Austria. Her parents

died when she was about 12. She came to Pittsburgh to

live with a relative and after to Bakersfield to live with her

relative Anne Riegler, a cousin. My parents met here in

Bakersfield.

3 Abe's wife was Anne Birnbaum. Abe Riegler had a used clothing store at 1121 19th St. (Bakersfield Californian, Jul 10, 1912). In 1918 he owned a pawn shop at the same location and in 1919 was buying Liberty Bonds from the public. (Bakersfield Californian, Jun 28, 1919). Riegler died in 1933, but by then he was owner of a high-grade clothing store at 1316 19th St.


Celia, Milton, and Louis Younger

My sister, Betty, was born first. She attended KC,4 served in the

WAVES, and went to Hunter College in New York. She married

Bob Cohn. I was born at Mercy Hospital on July 8, 1931. My

godfather was Abe Riegler. He had a store, but he made his

money gambling. Abe wore a diamond stick pin.

4 Kern County Union High School became Bakersfield High School in 1945.


Bill Boss was a bartender on 19th Street.

Bakersfield Californian, March 17, 1933

G: Can you tell me how your father got his store?

Y: I'm not sure but I think Abe Riegler helped. After Abe died,

my father opened Younger's Working Man’s Store at 1223-19th.

That's near the southeast corner of 19th and M Street … about

three block east of Chester Avenue.5

5 In 1919, 1223-19th was Winer's Store (ladies and men's hats) (Bakersfield Californian, Dec 5, 1919)


Younger's Working-Man's Store, about 1947

Left to right: Long-time Younger employee Ed Richardson, unidentified employee, employee Sam Silverstein, Louis Younger.

The store had oiled, wooden floors, the same kind as most

other buildings in that section of town. Above the store was a

rooming house. Johnny Conley, a kid a couple of years older

than me, lived there with his father. Johnny taught me how to

flag red trucks, and I still do that every time I see a red truck.6

G: The neighborhood around 19th Street sounds like it was a

thriving place.

6 Younger: “When you see a red truck, you go like this.” (He demonstrates a four-step series of hand-motions depicting trapping and tallying.) “When you've done 100 red trucks, your wish comes true, but it doesn't work if you keep track of how many you've counted.” Gia: “You mean you never know exactly how many you've counted?” Younger: “Yes.”


Y: Younger's Working Man’s Store was open for business

Monday through Saturday and half-day on Sundays. After I was

12, I spent a lot of time working there and waiting on

customers. I remember another men's clothing store across the

street and near the Virginia Theater. My father was in

competition with the owner.7 When one put up a sales sign, the

next day the other one would put up his sign.

Celia and Louis Younger

He maintained that business for almost 30 years and probably

would have gone on longer if it weren't for the fire and

earthquake. He had both.

G: What were some other stores nearby?

7 Meyer Makoff's Men's Clothing, 1121-19th St


Y: The Brass Rail bar was at the southeast corner of 19th and L,

and next to it was Samuel Wolf's food store. There was a

rooming house above it. To the east of Wolf's was my father's

store. Then was Art Tognini's drugstore, and next door was

Katz' secondhand store. It also had a hotel above it. Next to

Katz' was the Ever Ready Cafe, and the Mint bar. Joe

Bertolaccini's clothing store was the next door, and then came

Bakersfield Seed & Feed at 1201-19th that belonged to Michel.8

He was in the building after WWII when my dad bought the

property. The feed store next became the First and Last Chance

Saloon, and then it was a women's dress shop.

Sam Fleischman had a liquor store across the street. He

did very well. In the next block east, on the corner on the south

side, was the Mission Hotel.9 Anne Riegler managed it.

Across the street from my father's store was the Virginia

Theater and next to it was Owen's toy store. That was a

popular place for us kids, and I went in there a lot. Nobody

ever told you to stop playing with the toys.

8 In 1938 it was at 1300-19th.9 The hotel was at 1125-1/2 19th at the southeast corner of 19th and

M. In 1938 it was the Parkway Hotel, and Abe Riegler was still listed as manager. The Parkway is known as the Mission Hotel today.


Mrs. Tuis was the bartender next door to the Bakersfield

Hotel, and I think she became the owner.10 The cop on the

street was old man Taylor. He got into a scuffle with a drunk,

and the businessmen came out to help. After Taylor retired,

Charlie Dodge took over.

G: Where was your family's home?

Y: We were at 1208-17th Street.11 Today the address is behind

Bill Lee’s in the parking lot. Our house was next to the large

palm tree there.

The neighborhood was really mixed. We had Hispanic,

Chinese, and Greek kids living all around us--Jack Wong's

house, Nicky's house, and the rest. Nicky's father ran a bar on L

between 18th and 19th, and Dr. Poo Wah had an herb shop at the

northeast corner of 18th and N.12

10 In 1938 at 1202-19th

11 In 1930, Louis Younger lived at 1517 26th St.12 When Milt Younger saw the address in the Poo Wah ad, he

commented, “Well, my memory is different than that.”


Bakersfield Californian, April 29, 1937

Those families were diverse and had strong personalities.

I played with all the kids, got along well, and became a fairly

decent athlete, which helped a lot.

G: How did you get along at school?

Y: School was good. I was president of student government at

Franklin and Emerson Schools, president of my senior class at

Bakersfield High School, and also class valedictorian.

G: Tell me more about your parents.

Y: My father spoke several languages, and my mother was a

bright lady, too, but because of their backgrounds, neither of

them had much of a formal education. They had gone through

adversity and had good reason to work hard to succeed.

My parents were constantly encouraging me. I was their

only son, and I became what you might call a Jewish Prince.


G: What does that mean?

Milt Younger, cowboy

Y: It's not exactly like what it sounds. My parents always told

me I could accomplish anything, and they encouraged me to do

whatever I wanted. They had the confidence and belief that

anything was possible for me. But a lot of things were expected

from me, too, and I didn't want to let them down.

When I was four, my father brought home for me a 48-

volume set of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and when I was five

I was reading Greek mythology from those books. I had an

attraction to words. Language was and still is very important to

me.

G: Did “do anything” mean you could do no wrong?


Y: Well, maybe, but I didn't want to let them down. That’s not

to say I was without childish misbehavior. When I was eight or

nine, Nicky and I got into the First Baptist Church after their

Sunday service. That building is an historical monument now –

office space and the Bell Tower Club. Anyway, we explored

around. I think Nick led me astray.13 He was a wild Greek kid.

G: How did he lead you astray?

Y: We climbed up into church's bell tower to fight the bats.

Then we heard a policeman calling “How did you kids get up

there? Don't come down! It's too dangerous.” We didn't come

down. We were scared of getting caught. The cop called the fire

department, and they brought the ladder truck. The Californian

took a picture of us on the ladder. Sometime after that, we

tried the Clock Tower at 17th and Chester and got away with it

that time.

G: What did your parents say about the church caper?

Y: I don't remember any great hullabaloo about it.

13 George Antonaris, a contemporary of Milt Younger, told the author about a football game between BHS and EB. Nick led the BHS cheering section in the following improvised cheer: “Ska-ta, Ska-ta, Ziss Goom Bah!” (Bleachers echoed it back.) “Ess, Kah, Ah, Tah, Ah!” (Louder response). “Ska-TAAA! EAST!” (Huge response). Said George, “Your know it was really funny because none of the teachers knew that in Greek σκατα means crap.”


G: Any more stories like that?

Y: One comes to mind. When I was at BHS, Jimmy Vigneau and

I were in Homer Likely's Chemistry class. The thing was,

Likely's glasses were real thick. He couldn't hardly see

anything up close, let alone what was going on in the back of

the room. Well, Jimmy and I swiped a pound of sodium from

the lab.

G: Why sodium?

Y: 'Cause it was fascinating stuff! Anyway, that night when we

were going past the mill pond--across the street from the old

jail--we threw the whole thing in the water.14 A geyser ten-feet

tall shot up, and the lights went on in the jail. They never found

out who did it.

G: Tell me about Franklin School.

Y: I started at Franklin when it faced onto 17th Street, and the

playground backed up to Truxtun Avenue. The school was two-

stories then. When I was in First Grade, I tested at 11th Grade

in reading, and my teacher, Carolyn Harris, didn’t know what to

do with me. So they let me work in the principal's office a lot.

14 Mill Pond was on the northeast corner of Truxtun and Q. The Kern County Jail was across the street on the northwest corner.


Tests along the way showed I was smart, but Franklin

School also had great teachers. There was a lot of nurturing

there. Edith Fox, my Fourth-Grade teacher was a published

author, and she brought in Wind In The Canyon [1948] for us to

see.

In Old California by Edith Fox 15

Miss Fox thought I could write, and she showed me how

writers write. When I wrote in later years I went back to Miss

Fox.

Teachers like her, and Carolyn Harris too, emphasized the

joy of writing and learning. Miss Harris once said to me, “You

talk so much, you would be a good lawyer.” Encouragement

like that made a great difference in my life. I had ability, but I

also owe a lot to the many people who helped me, and I owe a

real debt to my early teachers.

15 Edith Kirk Fox: In Old California. Illustrations from cut-out work by pupils in the author's fourth grade of the Bakersfield, California, schools. New York: Macmillan, 1927


G: Did your parents give you any private lessons?

Y: They got me a violin when I was four or five years old. Not

long after that I was on the bandstand at Kern River Park16

playing “Ach Du Lieber Augustin.” I played it three times, one

time after the other until Carlyle Nelson, my teacher, hustled

me off the stage.

Carlyle Nelson and pupils. Younger is in front.

My next teacher was Max Bayless, and after him, around 1938,

it was Aram Der Zakarian. He was a Communist. After we

16 Hart Memorial Park


finished my lesson we discussed politics. Another teacher was

Harold Burt. He was the high school orchestra teacher and also

was, briefly, conductor of the Kern Philharmonic.17

I played violin with the Kern Philharmonic and with the

BHS orchestra18 While I was at Stanford I played violin, but

when I came back to Bakersfield I stopped. I suppose I could

have been a better player if I’d kept at it, but I had new goals

and responsibilities, and I was really working hard at being a

lawyer.

G: When you were 12, you and a kid named Keith Abbott

performed a skit at the Washington School auditorium called

"If I Were a Teacher for Just One Hour." You did it in front of

teachers, supervisors, principals, and superintendents. Did Miss

Edith Fox have anything to do with that?

Y: I don't remember. She was at Franklin, but she might have

been an advisor. We did that skit when I was a pupil at

Emerson, when Emerson was at Truxtun and K.

G: What year did you start Bakersfield High?

17 Precursor of Bakersfield Symphony18 Younger was president of the BHS orchestra.


Y: I started in 1945. I got into sports, but I wasn’t very big so

I had to play with the light-weight guys. I ran track. I've

stayed physically active all my life.

Milt Younger, BHS graduation portrait

I was also in student body activities, and I was a political guy.

Elvin Hedgecock was my debate and speech teacher. He was

very encouraging and was an important influence on me.19

I kept getting elected to offices. I joined the interracial

council about 1948 because at that time there were growing

tensions between the black students and white students. But in

those years it wasn't gangs or significant drug problems.

19 Among his other achievements at BHS, Younger won debate championships at Southern California Oratorical and San Joaquin Valley Debates.


Milt Younger

eonard Winters: One time someone threw a bottle out of

the Sixth Floor window of the Padre, and it hit the

Hoenshells' gas station across the street. The Hoenshell

brothers lined up the angle that the bottle came from, and they

located the window in the Padre. They went up there and beat

the hell out of somebody.20

L

20 In this part of the interview Younger's friend Leonard Winters (born about 1917) sat next to him. Winters had been an investigator for Chain and Younger.


Hoenshell's station. To the west is the Padre Hotel.

Y: Yes, Rosse Hoenshell was a tough customer.21 His father, my

wife’s grandfather, homesteaded here at 18th and H Street.

Betty's grandfather had a part in the construction of the Ice

House on Chester Avenue north of the circle, and he built the

Hoenshell gas station across from the Padre.22

Southwest of the Padre was the McMahan's house. They

tore it down and built a furniture store, their first of about 50

of them. The Padre parking garage was in the next block

west.23

21 Rosse Hoenshell attended KCUHS, Bakersfield Junior College, and graduated in Accounting from U.C.

22 The ice manufacturing plant was built about 1902. Dave Hoenshell was president of the carpenters' union, and he built Bakersfield homes, three of which are extant on the south side of 22nd St between P and Q.

23 The garage became Vincent Clerou's Cyclery. See Gilbert Gia, Vincent Clerou's Building Across from the Padre Hotel,


The McMahon’s daughter married a Judd and opened a

women's high-fashion dress shop on the corner that's east of

the Padre garage.

G: When did the Hoenshells arrive here?

Y: Betty's father's family came to Bakersfield early. The

Hoenshells did very well in wholesale tires and auto parts, and

they invested in property. Betty's mother was a Baldwin of the

Lucky Baldwin line.24

G: What other businesses were nearby?

Y: Well, it isn't nearby, but how about this: At 10th and Chester

was a restaurant called Mr. and Mrs. of Radio Fame. The couple

who owned it actually had been on the radio.

W: Hollis Roberts was an extremely wealthy man. He was a

powerful man, 6-6, 300 pounds. He owned 100,000 acres.

G: Milt, were you in farming, too?

Y: Curt Darling25 and I were partners in a walnut orchard

operation, 110 acres, and Roberts farmed it for us. We ended

up selling all but 60-acres to the Hershey Company. Our 60-

gilbertgia.com and scribd.com24 Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin, 1828–190925 A prominent Bakersfield attorney


acres was put into peaches, but it wasn’t profitable because if

you had peaches the only place you could sell them was to the

cannery, and they dictated the price.

G: Where did you work when you were a teenager?

Y: I clerked at my father’s store while I was in high school, but

the first summer after Stanford, when I was 19, I worked in

the oilfields, and I did the same thing for the next six summers.

I started out as a production roughneck for Blue Barnes

Core Drilling. Mr. Barnes had become successful and was by

then loaning money to others who were getting into the oil

business. I worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day, for $2

an hour. It was pretty good money. The other summers I

roughnecked for a number of different drilling contractors. My

last summer I was a derrick man. If you don't know, a derrick

man works above, and a roughneck works below on the

platform. Both of those jobs were tower work. That just means

the shifts were irregular. I made almost enough in those

summers to pay my entire way to Stanford. Of course my

parents helped me, too.

G: What were those oil men like?


Y: They were rough, all white, and mostly from Oklahoma or

Texas. I made pretty good friendships when I was doing that

work. Years later I represented some of the same men who I’d

worked with, men who’d been hurt on rigs. One of the proudest

things I’ve done as a lawyer was to represent people injured in

the oilfield as the result of defective equipment.

It's a much misunderstood point of law that you can't sue

your employer for injuries, and Workers' Compensation isn't

much better than welfare. I was one of the first in this area to

get compensation from manufacturers for those men who had

lost an arm or leg because the reciprocating parts didn't have

safety guards. That changed the industry's interest in safety,

and it no doubt saved the lives of many men who would have

been killed or maimed.

(Interview from another day)

G: How was your father involved in the community, other than

his business?

: He was a founding member of B'nai Jacob Synagogue

that used to be at 13th and H Streets.26 For 30 years he Y26 B'nai Jacob Synagogue was built on H St about 1923.


was in charge of Jewish Charities. 27 After WWII, I helped my

father with his taxes. One year his gross annual income from

the store was $46,000. His charitable contributions to various

charities that year came up to $16,000, but my father's giving

happened every day at the store. Sometimes men came in to

beg, and my father gave them meal tickets to the Ever Ready

Cafe next door to the Mint bar. I still judge people by what they

do for others.

Some of those guys were legitimate down-and-outers, but

others had gimmicks, like the one who said he was a rabbi

down on his luck. If a man actually looked like a holy man, my

father brought him home for dinner after the store closed at

noon on Sunday, much to my mother's displeasure.28

27 At a Hanukkah festival in 1936, five year-old Milt Younger played the part of Judas Maccabeus, the great warrior of Jewish history. When I asked Younger if his parents had lobbied for him to get the part, he replied, “No. I was the one who could do it.”

28 In 1936 the Youngers met Jack A. Levy at Santa Fe Station. Levy had arrived to be the rabbi for B'nai Jacob Congregation (Bakersfield Californian, Oct 30, 1939). Levy was active in civic affairs and defense work and was a resource for the entire community (Bakersfield Californian, Jun 28, 1943). Milt Younger said Father Thomas Early of St. Joseph's Church and Rev John Whiteneck of Congregational Church were close friends of Rabbi Jack Levy.


Milt's mother, Celia Younger

Bakersfield Californian, September 20, 1945

G: Did you go to Stanford right after high school?

Y: I went to Stanford and Stanford Law School.29 I was

admitted to the California bar in 1957.

G: Why did you choose law?

Y: (Long pause) All I can tell you is I always thought I would

be a lawyer. It might have started with my First Grade

teacher's words “You like to talk so much you would make a

good lawyer.”

29 BA, Political Science; L.L.B. 1956


G: How was Stanford for you?

Y: It was good for me. I was house manager and president at

Theta Chi,30 so I got room and board free for two years.31 My

time at Stanford gave me experience in leadership and helped

me in my ability to persuade people and project my meaning to

them.

I stayed active in sports and wrestled all four years. We

were a tough group of wrestlers. We used to roughhouse pretty

successfully with the footballers who came into our workout

room.

While I was there, I had several military deferments, so

after graduation I joined the Army Reserves. They stationed me

at the Presidio of San Francisco, where I had a singularly

undistinguished career as an officer with the Army JAG office.32

After I got out I learned that lawyers were not deeply sought

after in San Francisco, so I came back to Bakersfield.

G: To work for Chain?

30 Motto: An Assisting Hand31 Younger received a scholarship to Stanford Law School. Theta Chi

voted Younger the "Man Who Contributed Most" to the welfare of the group. Younger was also a member of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity and Pi Sigma Alpha political science society, among others.

32 Judge Advocate General


Y: I'd already worked for Morris Chain, the first time in 1955.33

In 1956, after Stanford, I came back to work for him. Chain

was then the best-known trial lawyer in Kern County. He was

skilled; when he told a story in court, or in a downtown bar,

everyone listened.34 I did some criminal cases for Chain, but

since then I’ve pretty much done the same kind of work I do

now, personal injury claims. I learned from Chain. All young

people should find a good mentor.

G: I read you did very well at Stanford. Did that have much to

do with him hiring you?

Y: Well, I was in the top five percent of my law class, and I was

awarded the Order of the Coif,35 but I don't know if Morris

33 In 1932 Morris Bertram Chain was licensed to practice law in California. He established his office in Bakersfield in 1934.

34 While Chain was at KCUHS and Bakersfield Junior College he participated in speech, debate, theater, and sports (Bakersfield Californian, Mar 11, 1919). Chain organized dances and wrote plays. In 1936 he ran for District Attorney against Tom Scott and lost, but he remained a highly-successful criminal defense attorney and won cases so frequently that Californian columnist Eddie Griffith once headlined a story “Chain Does It Again!” When Chain died in 1977, Griffith wrote, “Mr. Chain had unbelievable ability in 'reading' a jury which would tend to be favorable to his usually hopeless-appearing case. I think this stemmed from his continued life-long interest in the 'little guy' and the problems of the downtrodden, generally.”

35 An honorary scholastic society that recognizes those law students who have attained high levels of scholarship. The Order of the Coif is recognized by all lawyers.


Chain knew about the award when he hired me. Of course he

had known me and my family for years.

G: He must have been an interesting person to work for.

Y: Chain was born in 1904 in Russia and came to this country

with his family. Chaimowitz was the family name. His father

had a little store on 19th Street in what we now call the Chain

estate.36 Morrie’s brothers were Abe, Sammy, and Eddie, and all

of them were products of Bakersfield schools.37 Morrie, and at

least one of his brothers, attended Bakersfield Junior College.

Morrie went on to USC.

G: Did he go easy on you as the new man?

Y: Morrie was a tough boss, and he expected his lawyers to

work, but I was already an aggressive, hard working young

lawyer. When Betty and I were about to have our first child, I

went to Morrie and asked him for a raise, to $500 a month. He

said, “How much are you going to pay me for teaching you how

36 Joe Chain owed Chain's Emporium at 1315-19th St (Bakersfield Californian, Jun 30, 1923).

37 Morris Chain was KCUHS Class of 1922. He boxed with KCUHS Cadets (Bakersfield Californian, Mar 22, 1919), ran track (Bakersfield Californian, May 5, 1922), and was quarterback in Bakersfield Jr College's winning game against Taft (Kern County Renegade, Oct 14, 1924).


to be a lawyer?” I don’t remember what I said to him, but he

wound up giving me the $500.

(Winters had been listening until this point.)

Winters: I was the manager of Empire Rooms that belonged to

Chain. There were 27 rooms. It was a cat house. Chief Grayson

and I were good friends.38

Y: Leonard was our investigator, and Al Noriega, who was

provost marshal at Minter Field during WWII, was our law

clerk.39 His brother was Judge Frank Noriega, and Al’s son is

Eddie Noriega, the lawyer in town today.

W: When I got back from working for the IRS40 I went back to

work for Chain as his investigator. I set myself up between

Chain and the people who he sent me out to talk to. They said

they wanted to talk to him, but I said No.

Y: Yeah, they could set you up.

38 Horace Grayson was Bakersfield Chief of Police, 1945-1956.39 A provost marshal was a police officer.40 Probably in the early 1950s


W: I knew that from when I worked for the Government. They

had laws, and if you didn’t follow them you didn’t last. So those

guys had to talk to me first. Hell, I wouldn’t do it again.

Y: Yes, you would.

W: Yeah, I had a lot of fun.

Y: You know, Leonard was the premier private investigator in

Kern County for many, many years and is responsible for the

success of many of our cases. He has been involved in some

very famous cases, not just here, but in famous cases

throughout the country.

W: My father was a farmer, and I was raised in Arvin. He

bought me a car, and I was the only one in high school to have

one. W.B. Camp also had a car, but he was in the Junior

College. When I got my Big B at the high school, Don Hart was

one of the upperclassmen who was in on the initiation. They

made us take off our pants and run down the bluffs. They had

guys stationed on the way down that paddled our butts every

50 feet.

Y: Len, tell him about working for Chain.


W: I left Kern County in the '40s and returned in the '50s. I

took out a private investigator license, but I worked exclusively

for Chain, so I really didn’t need the license. I worked the

Spade Cooley case.41 I still have that file. I don’t know why I

kept it. Anyway, Spade was a card. I used to take him food and

visit him when he was up in the jail here in Bakersfield. He

went to prison for life--was a model prisoner. One time they

took him out [of Vacaville] to Oakland to play for a police

benefit. There were several thousand peace officers from the

west coast in the audience. He finished playing his fiddle, went

back stage and said, “They still love me,” and then he had a

heart attack and keeled over dead.

G: How about some of the old buildings downtown?

W: There was a hotel called the Empire Rooms. In the

basement were rooms where they smoked opium. Across L

street from it was George Why's market. He was one of the

earliest successful Chinese businessmen. He had a basement

where he kept the meat.

41 Country and western singer Spade Cooley married Ella May Evans in 1945. On Apr 3, 1961 she died at Tehachapi Valley Hospital. Cooley was convicted of torturing and beating her to death. Cooley died in prison.


G: You knew some of the police, didn't you?

W: I knew Butch Milligan. He was the vice officer for Horace

Grayson and some say he took money for him. Milligan had a

cabin and a Cadillac. I was his pallbearer. Champness was the

last sheriff to live at the jail.

Maurice Tice was a prohi42, and he was the east

Bakersfield town marshal for years. Tice was a Chi Phi (ΧΦ) at

KC. The high school fraternities were gone when I went there

[c. 1933], but those older guys who had been Chi Phi's basically

ran the town later on when they were adults.

Y: Loustalot43 was Chi Phi and a high school debate partner

with Morris Chain.… Len, remember Sam Fleischman, the

retired Jewish architect. He and his wife opened a liquor store

in the First and Last Chance Saloon after John Dimas left and

moved across the street to the southwest corner. 44 His adopted

daughter, Mary Metropolis, took over when it was still a bar.

You know where it was, Len, over on the corner under the

Bakersfield Hotel.

42 Prohibition officer43 John E. Loustalot became Kern Co. Sheriff.44 19th and L


W: I burned the damn place down. Dick Stricklin45 and those

guys used to have breakfast at the Padre. They ran the town.

Y: Gere Restituto was real. He wasn’t like the little crooks. Gere

always thought he was a gangster, and he was about half-way

right. You didn’t screw around with Gere. He had gambling in

the back room of his motel on Union Avenue, the El Adobe.46

W: I remember Gere. After the war, I was at Reno working for

Beamer in the IRS income-tax evasion department. I kept

Restituto out of the penitentiary twice. One time he wanted to

buy a car, and the IRS kept its cars down on Battery Street in

San Francisco. I made arrangement for him to buy one of the

beat-up Federal cars. I was there with him when he was

signing a check. The clerk asked me, “Leonard, are you going to

vouch for this check?” I said, “Sure.”

I had a hard time getting away from the government.

They wanted to know why you wanted to quit. When I finally

was able to quit, I came back to Bakersfield. I’d known Morris

Chain in relation to an accident I was in in Bakersfield years

45 Stricklin owned GMC Motor City on Union Avenue.46 Gere Restituto and Jimmy Bonnaventura were joint owner of the

Crystal Inn (Bakersfield Californian, July 11, 1946). See Gilbert Gia, El Adobe and Crystal Inn, 1930-1960 at gilbertgia.com and scribd.com


before. I had some credentials and experience from working

with the IRS, and when I went to work for Morrie I was the

only investigator working for an attorney here.

G: Did you have any interesting cases?

W: Oscar Catalano. He was the lawyer who was in a wheel

chair. He was a goddamn good lawyer, but when he was

upstairs in his office in the Hopkins Building at 19th and

Chester, Dr. Berni shot him. That's what put him in the

wheelchair. 47

Y: Yeah, that was a story, but getting back to Gere Restituto, I

know his son Sammy, a good guy. I used to workout with him

at Babe’s Gym.48 Babe and I became partner when I was 17 and

he was 22. I put up $500 in the gym. After workouts, Sammy

and I and others went across the street to the Cellar Bar. If you

see Sammy, tell him you saw me. I grew up on 17th Street with

his wife, Irene Balasis. Her parents had a little grocery store at

17th and O and also the concessions at Hart Park.

47 Palm Beach Daily News, Jan 8, 1947: “Attractive Mrs. Jan Berni, above, is reported to have witnessed the shooting of Oscar Catalano by her husband, Dr. Daniel Berni in Bakersfield, Calif. She recently obtained a divorce from Dr. Berni, with Catalano acting as her lawyer. Dr. and Mrs. Berni later were reconciled.”

48 Babe Cantini


(Younger is driving us around his old neighborhood.)

G: Was there a park by the El Tejon Hotel?

: The American Legion used to have a big park east

across K Street from the hotel.49 The veterans marched

around there, and I played football on that park. San Joaquin

Bank, which is now Citizens Bank, is now on the grounds.

Y

W: Steve Strelich had a gym at 17th and K. His wife Loretta was

a good-looking woman, tall and stately.50

Y: That palm tree over there is where 1208-17th Street used to

be, where my house was. There was a vacant lot next door, and

next to that was Jack Wong's house. He ran Wings cafe. Not

Earl Wong, he was a successful, legitimate businessman. Over

there was the New Lincoln Market that Earl Wong owned.51

G: Not a legitimate businessman?

49 Bank of America Building at Truxtun and Chester was built on the former site of Hotel El Tejon.

50 Strelich Brother's Gym was set back on a parking lot that took the place of the park. Steve and Loretta Strelich later owned Strelich Stadium on V St. The building is called the Dome today.

51 L and 20th


Y: Jack Wong was a gambler. A lot of the merchants on 19th

Street, Jewish or Chinese, or what-ever-in-the hell, used to

play Fan-Tan in the back room of Wings Cafe, but they never

played with real money. They played with chits, and when I

was seven or eight I would carry the chits around on my

bicycle for them. I was their bag man.

Meyer Rifkin! Len, have you thought of him?52 He had a

shoe repair store on the corner of the alley near Bill Lee's and

the New Lincoln Market. Between them was the blacksmith’s

shop where Lackey shoed horses and resurfaced plows, things

like that.

In this alley was Mrs. Tuis' house. It was set back on the

property and faced 17th. She owned the bar on 19th next to

Manuel Carnakis’ Virginia Theater.53 Next to Mrs. Tuis' was Jack

Wong's house. Then my house. Next came Fred Gribble's

house. Mr. Gribble was town mayor and a building contractor.

So that’s all in this block. I’ll turn around here.

52 In the WWI wartime draft for Kern County, Meyer Rifkin was No. 732 on the draft roll (Bakersfield Californian, Oct 12, 1918).

53 Now Cinema 19 Adult Theater & Bookstore at 1224 19th. John Carnakis, father of Manuel Carnakis, bought the theater from MT Ledoux, aka Madame Maria Therese Brignaudy (Kern County Deed 0346-0354, Mar 1, 1920). The senior Carnakis was a theater owner in Taft. He came to Bakersfield in 1916.


Okay, here we are back to the Bakersfield Chicken Shop at

17th and L. They killed the chickens in back, I kid you not. In

the '30s and '40s this alley we’re looking at was exactly the

way you see it now. It even has the same cracks in the

concrete as when I was a child. There were several wood

garages in the alley. One of them was ours, and in one of the

garages Jack Wong (of Wing's Cafe) made his noodles. The

dough was on a table, and Jack hired a little 90-lb Chinese guy

to jump up and down on one end of an eight foot bamboo pole

to make the noodle dough flat. That’s how they kneaded it.

Here's the brick Carnakis house where John Carnakis

lived. He was the original owner. He also owned the Virginia

Theater and the candy store next door to it. He made some

money, went to Athens, and brought back a bride. He built the

brick building as a Greek town house. I think Sherman Lee

owns it now.

G: What are those brick buildings over there?

Y: That’s the old AB Dick building and the National Cash

Register building. The older brick building next to it used to be

a machine shop. It is really old, older than anything around it.

Things have really changed.


W: Yeah, they knocked down my cat house. Jeannie Martini

was a pretty well-known madame.54 I used to see her down

there at the old Tiny’s at 18th and Chester.55 Butch Milligan, the

vice cop, was my best friend at the police department, and

Grayson was the chief. I ate with Grayson three or four nights

a week. He lived on 21st Street. I got mad at Grayson when he

only promoted Milligan to Sergeant. He should have got

Lieutenant. Grayson gave it to him later when there was an

opening. I can tell you this, one guy ran the town then, and it

was Horace Grayson. He was the last ruler.

G: What about the Sheriff's Office?

W: I knew Sheriff Champness, a big, tall guy. He was the last

one to actually live in the old jail, in the apartment there. Later

he moved out to the Di Georgio Farms ranch where he’d been

superintendent. I knew Steve Strelich, too. He had the stadium

on V street. I saw James Cagney there one night.

Y: Franklin Wong ran a drive-in at 18th and L. I think he was a

son of Bill Lee, one of the sons born in China. Everybody liked

54 Jeannie Martini reportedly owned the Troy Hotel across the street south of Central Park. The Troy was next to Iverson's two-story, brick furniture store, still standing. The Troy was razed after the earthquake of 1952.

55 A corner restaurant


Franklin's wife. She was good-looking and out-going and spoke

with a Southern accent.

Y: Farther down 19th is the Mint. But right here was the Every

Ready Cafe I told you about. Over here on the left at 19th and L

was the Rex Theater,56 and next to it on the corner was the Rex

candy shop owned by the Samos family. Greeks owned both

theaters, the Rex and the Virginia.

W: The Chain estate was at 20th and L Street. Morris owned the

Empire Rooms there for 15 or 20 years. It fronted on 20th. I

kind of ran the hotel as a sideline for him. Underneath it were

tunnels and cribs. I’d give $10,000 to find any pictures of those

cribs. They smoked opium there. The panels fit together. The

Empire was a cat house, but we cleaned it up. I still have one of

the matchbooks at home. It says “Where the Elite Meet to

Sleep.”

Y: There were hotels all along 19th Street, all on the second

floors on both sides. At 1223-19th was my dad’s store,

Younger’s Working Man’s Store. Next to him was Wolf's Market,

56 Abe Samos owned the Rex Theater at the southwest corner of 19th

and L. Milt Younger identified the northwest corner of 19th and L as the Cohn Estate. That family is not related to Milt Younger's sister's husband.


replaced by Alan’s Pawn shop. He had a son, Bruce. Tall. Moved

to San Francisco.

On the east side of my dad’s were two stores that used to

look a lot bigger to me. This one was Art Tognini’s Drug store.57

Over there across the street where the little door is, next to the

entrance to the old Virginia Theater, was the Virginia Candy

Shop owned by the Carnakises. They made their money on the

candy but not so much on the movies they showed. The store at

1219 was Lou Orloff’s hardware. He was a son of Sam Orloff of

Taft. Lou's son Ronnie became a lawyer in LA. The next shop

was old man Katz’ second-hand store next to the Mint Bar

(1207-19th St). Next was the Eveready Cafe where my dad

bought meal tickets that he gave away to the beggars. The

tattoo place on L Street is built of concrete block, so it's a

newer building. It wasn’t there in the '40s. A drive-in was here

where the parking lot is.

W: Every one of the hotels had a cat house upstairs.

57 Business card: “Arthur Tognini, manager, Save More Drug Store, No. 2 Farmacia Italiana, 1219 Nineteenth St.”


Y: There’s the Mint Bar at 1207. The building my father bought

is at 1219.58 Michel’s feed store was in there. I went to school

with their nephew Ted. The store later became John Dimas'

bar. His sign said First Chance-Last Chance. Across L Street was

the Riegler' Mission Hotel. I think the building was in the

Himovitz estate.59 It was. The hotel part was on the second

floor. I used to think of Anne Riegler as my aunt, but she was

my mother's cousin. Rebecca and Sophie were her sisters, and

they were our closest relatives here. After the war we didn't

have any relatives left in Europe. (Pause) The next store front

was Sherry's Liquors.

W: I used to work for them. I burned down the building across

the street from it. I was only 17 years old at the time.

Y: Leonard, this corner is the liquor store I was talking about.

It was owned by the retired Jewish architect Sam Fleischman

and his wife. They had it for years. And right over there at 20th

and L was the Empire Hotel “Where the Elite Meet to Sleep." On

58 Younger said his father bought the property because he was never sure that Himovitz would renew his lease.

59 In 1915 Morris Himovitz owned the Bakersfield Junk Co. Until 1939 Himovitz was president of B'nai Jacob Congregation. Younger said the Himovitz's owned most of 19th St between L and M St. Younger: “These families worked hard, saved their money, and bought property.”


the corner, on that dirt lot, was George Why's Washington

Market.60 The building on the left has been rebuilt. Just next to

it across the alley was a fish market owned by Japanese. When

they were interned in 1942, a Chinese family got it. The Ruben

Brothers' place at the northwest corner of 18th and L was on

the right.

I can go down the right side and tell you every building

that was here. That was Manny and Harry Rubin's pawnshop. Al

Goldwater is their son-in-law. He later opened the Emporium

men’s store, but at first it was a Rubin production. Their

daughter married Al Goldwater. I was at their wedding.

Pioneer Mercantile was originally at 21st and Eye Street.

I’ll drive over and show you where it was. Over there is the Sill

Building. It was built in 1939 and is still one of the most

contemporary buildings in town. The Anglo-California Bank was

across the street. I used to ride my bike over here with the

deposits from my dad's store.

60 1917/1919-17th St. Mr. George Why was probably Leoung Wing Why. That name is in Hall of Records Notice 10247 re an exchange of a beer and wine and a distilled spirits license for the Washington Market. J.S. Chin was Why's partner, and two other Chinese names appear as sellers in the transaction (Bakersfield Californian, Apr 22, 1942).


Milt Younger

(The interview ended at Younger's office.)

G: Thank you. It's been a great experience.

M: You’re welcome. I hope it's been helpful.


Betty and Milton Younger and Daughters

Epilogue

or almost 50 years Milt Younger has been either the President of Henrietta Weill Child Guidance Clinic or the President of Weill Foundation. Younger is Chairman of the

Center for Kern Political Education, and he was a chairman of the successfully-passed $180M Bakersfield College bond issue. He was also president of Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. Younger is a supporter of Habitat for Humanity. He served on the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School. In 2001 he received the Consumer Attorneys of California Presidential Award of Merit for protecting the civil justice system, and in 2002 he received CAC's Award of Merit for commitment in advancing the rights of California consumers. He has served as a trustee of the California State College System. In 2000 Younger was awarded the Bench and Bar Award of the Kern County Bar Association. In 2000 he was recipient of an honorary doctorate from California State University, Bakersfield and in 1990 received Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement awards from the Kern County Democratic Party. Younger was on the founding board of California State College,

F


Bakersfield, was a commencement speaker for the College, and was named Outstanding Friend of the University. He received Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement awards from the Kern, Inyo, and Mono County Central Labor Council and from the Building Trades Council. Younger has received awards from the California Teachers Association, the Black American Political Association, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Kern County Sikh Community, among other charitable and educational organizations. Younger was awarded Commendatory Resolutions from the California Assembly and State Senate. He was a founding member of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, and he pioneered Group Legal Services in Kern County that provides free legal consultations and reduced attorney fees to members of groups it represents. Younger is a pioneer member of the California Trial Lawyer Association, and he served on their Board of Governors and Executive Committee.

Don Clark's interview of Milt and Betty Younger inspired me to write this interview.61 Some information here comes from my visits with the Youngers between 2008-10, but most of it comes from the neighborhood tour and the lunch talks.

My goal was to identify the precursors of success in Milt Younger's life, and to that end he was gracious, patient, and helpful--but it was also important to him that I understand his commitment to philanthropy and social justice. When asked why those are so fundamental to him, he answered me much the same as he answered Don Clark: People are put here to help their fellow man. Milt Younger, the Godfather of Democratic politics in Kern County, lives up to that ideal as well as any person could.

61 Don Clark's video interview of Milton and Betty Younger is Great Biographies of Bakersfield, Milt Younger, [Center for Kern Political Education, (200_)]. The video is a holding of Bakersfield College Archives in the Grace Van Dyke Bird Library, Bakersfield College, Bakersfield, CA. Note that the reference “[Center for Kern Political Education, (200_)] is part of the bibliographic entry.


MILT YOUNGER'S BAKERSFIELD is free to public school teachers for their professional work, but the images are the exclusive property of Milton Younger, and their use without the accompanying text of MILT YOUNGER'S BAKERSFIELD is prohibited. Those who wish to reproduce MILT YOUNGER'S BAKERSFIELD (other than single copes for personal reference) must obtain prior permission from Gilbert Gia: ggiaggia at gmail dot com. --Gilbert Gia, July 2010

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Milt Younger's Bakersfield

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